Preply, an online marketplace that matches language learners with human tutors, announced on 21 January 2026 that it had closed a $150m Series D round. The round was led by WestCap, the growth investment firm of former Airbnb chief financial officer Laurence Tosi, and valued the company at $1.2bn.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Horizon Capital were among the new and existing investors that took part, the company said, without listing every participant. Goldman Sachs International was the sole placement agent. Allen Mask, a partner at WestCap and a former senior executive at Airbnb, joined Preply's board as part of the deal.
Preply said the round brought its total funding to about $299m. Kyiv Post reported that the new valuation was roughly double the level of the company's previous fundraising and made Preply one of the few startups founded by Ukrainians to be valued at more than $1bn.
“Today, we connect people with the world's best tutors, amplified by AI, bringing learning efficiency to a level that was previously unreachable.”Kirill Bigai, Co-founder and CEO, Preply
What Preply does
Preply runs a marketplace for one-to-one online lessons. The company says more than 100,000 tutors use the platform to teach more than 90 languages to learners in 180 countries. Tutors are self-employed, and Preply takes care of matching, scheduling and the lesson environment.
The company has added AI tools around the human lessons rather than replacing tutors with software. Its tutoring co-pilot tracks learner progress, produces insights for tutors and handles administrative work. Chief executive Kirill Bigai told TechCrunch that Preply already uses AI for lesson summaries, homework and matching learners with suitable tutors, and that the company expects the future of learning to be guided by people and amplified by AI.
Preply cited its own 2025 study, run with the nonprofit LeanLab Education, in which 96% of learners said that learning with a human tutor and holding real conversations was essential to their progress.
Growth and profitability
Since its Series C, Preply said it had more than tripled the number of tutors available for booking and added more than 40 languages. It said that over the previous twelve months it had kept improving EBITDA and had become EBITDA positive. TechCrunch reported that the company had been EBITDA profitable for 12 months.
According to TechCrunch, Preply has about 750 employees, around 150 of whom work in Kyiv. The company has offices in Barcelona, London, New York and Kyiv. Reports differ on where it is headquartered: Kyiv Post described Preply as headquartered in Barcelona, while TechCrunch said its headquarters are in the US, where the company got its start.
Preply was founded in Kyiv by Ukrainian entrepreneurs, according to Kyiv Post. TechCrunch described it as a 14-year-old company that has been connecting learners with tutors since 2013.
What the money is for
Preply said it would use the capital to develop its AI and data capabilities, hire more product and engineering staff and grow internationally to reach more learners and tutors. Bigai told TechCrunch that the company was hiring AI specialists across its four offices.
WestCap, which has more than $6bn in assets under management and has invested in Airbnb, StubHub and Klarna, said it would help Preply scale its marketplace. Bigai told TechCrunch that Preply had no timeline or concrete plans for a stock market listing, though he pointed to WestCap's experience in taking companies public.
The funding so far
Preply last raised money in July 2023, when it secured $70m as part of a broader $120m Series C, according to Kyiv Post. People familiar with that deal put the valuation at $500m to $600m at the time, a figure the company did not confirm.
Earlier backers named by TechCrunch include Horizon Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Owl Ventures and Techstars Berlin. Kyiv Post reported that Horizon Capital's participation in the Series D was the first deal from the firm's fourth fund.
Company website: preply.com